


But To Imagine

by nitpickyabouttrains



Category: Kings (TV 2009)
Genre: Angst, Biblical References, Blood, M/M, Oaths, Yuletide 2016, blood oath, continue the story, post-show, pretty boys in the woods, secret meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 18:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8633236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitpickyabouttrains/pseuds/nitpickyabouttrains
Summary: Jack and David meet in the woods, one final time.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Brenda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brenda/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide. I was so excited to see that you wanted Kings, because I really wanted to write it. Enjoy!

David pulled the wool cap down lower over his ears. It was not yet winter; there were still brightly colored leaves on the trees, still warmth in the sun. Yet in the early morning hours, there was a chill in the air, a portent of the long winter ahead.

When he left Shiloh, he had done so with such haste that there had not been time to pack. His provisions were few, his funds tight. He was not prepared for the cold ahead of him. He cupped his hands together and blew into them, to keep his fingers warm. His breath came out a white puff in the weak morning sun, and David held back a sigh.

It was going to be a long winter.

There was a crunch, boots on dry leaves, behind him and David straightened his back and looked around, alert.

Familiar mussed black hair came into view from between the trees, and David let himself take a deep breath, but did not let down his guard entirely. Planned meeting or not, there could still be danger lurking, especially given the second party of this morning’s rendezvous.

“Jack,” David whispered, or at least tried to. The words still sounded loud, cutting through the silent morning dew.

“In the flesh,” Jack said, stepping into the clearing, where David stood waiting.

David took a moment to take in the man before him. Neither had had an easy path since they last met in the capital of Gilboa. Jack looked slightly worse for wear, his pale cheeks gaunt. Hiis cheekbones stood out, sharp and strong. His hair was wild around his head, longer than the prince had kept it in Shiloh, with a leaf sticking out from his run through the forest.

Yet Jack’s eyes shone with a purpose they had not before. He seemed eager and excited, leaning forward, his eyes blazing such a bright blue that he almost looked possessed. Here was a man with a mission, with a goal to live for. It suited him.

“We should speak quickly, in case there is someone about, to happen on us,” David said, feeling a sudden sense of urgency.

“Who could happen upon us here, in the forest of Ziph?” Jack asked, a smirk forming on his lips, a strange shadow of the man he had been. “Before this meeting I had never heard of this place, of Horesh.”

“The King’s pursuit of me knows no end, not even the depths of the forest,” David pointed out. He had been running long enough to know that, to stay on his toes.

“And his disappointment in me knows no end, either,” Jack replied. The sun, which was just beginning to rise through the trees, shone a shaft of light into the clearing, and David could see the resolute set of Jack’s face. “Which is why we meet, here and now. We are neither of us free to do what we must.”

David thought then of Michelle, of their unspoken third, who was also not able to do as she pleased because of the King. She was banished, disappeared, not seen nor heard from by David since they left Shiloh, yet still in his heart. Reverend Samuels had named them Husband and Wife, but David had no way to speak with her, to reach out to her. Unlike her brother, who now stood before him. David pushed Michelle out of his mind. She could be of no help now.

“I have a plan, an idea,” David said carefully. “Of what I must do next.”

Jack nodded, stepping closer, so that there was scarcely two inches between them. “Go on, then. Anything you suggest would be better than letting the Tyrant remain on the throne.”

“I need to go to Gath,” David said, what he had been thinking since first leaving the capital. That was why they were in the forest of Ziph, so close to the border. David knew what needed to be done, he felt it in his bones.

“To get out of Gilboa, on your way to Assur or Elam, where you can wait for Silas to calm down,” Jack said quickly, with a wave of his hand. “Of course.”

David shook his head, “No. For peace we need Gath, so I have to go, and convince the premier to accept it, to end the war. I need to join them, work with them, toward our goal.”

“It will make you look like a traitor, to those who don’t know what you are doing,” Jack pointed out. “It will give Silas the ammunition he needs to place blame on you, to call you terrible things. If you thought this pursuit was hard, it will only get harder, if you work with Gath.”

It was what David feared. “I know. Which is why we meet today. So that you can know that what I do, I do for peace, for Gilboa.”

Jack took in a deep breath, narrowing his eyes slightly, and looking hard at David. David stood still, letting Jack’s eyes wash over him, letting him decide for himself. A beat passed. And then another, with just the sound of the wind in the leaves.

Finally, Jack nodded. “Swear it.”

“Of course, I swear,” David said, his eyes locking in on Jack’s, so that the prince could see his truth.

“No,” Jack said, his lips pressing together into a tight pink line. “An oath. Swear me an oath and I will do the same to you. That no matter how our actions look to others, we are both acting for Gilboa, for peace.”

He reached into his pocket as he spoke and pulled out a small pocket knife. With a flick of his wrist he flipped it open, the cold metal blade catching the light of the garden.

David stared at the knife, and his mind jumped to Reverend Samuels, and the last conversation they had. The reverend had said David would be protected, that God watched him, and looked out for him, and would keep him in his travels. This blade was no danger to him, not in the hands of Jack, and yet he felt now as he had that day with the Reverend, a strange surge of warmth in his chest. Of rightness.

“Yes,” David said, understanding. David reached out and took the blade from Jack’s hand. Carefully balancing the knife in his left, he ran the sharp edge over his right palm.

Dark red blood blossomed out from his hand under the knife, a line of scarlet, thin and yet thick with purpose. He reached to hand back the blade, but Jack held his hand out, palm up and open. He made no move to take the knife.

So David poised the edge of the blade over Jack’s right palm as well, waiting for Jack to tell him to stop. When Jack did not, he let the knife’s tip lower, applying just enough pressure to break the skin. He cut a line across, matching his own, not too long, nor too short, the blood welling up to the surface, turning dark in the air.

Jack nodded his head once, resolute, and reached out his cut hand, clasping David’s own with force, their bloody palms pressed together.

“Today you and I make this covenant together, before each other and God,” Jack said solemnly. There was a fire in him, David could have sworn he felt it, zinging through himself, originating from where their hands met.

“An oath, of one purpose, as we are now of one blood, one body,” David intoned, heat flowing through him, setting him alight.

“One soul,” Jack added, his grip tightening on their clasped hands. “In the pursuit of peace for Gilboa. Every action, every thought, will be for this goal.”

What cold he had felt before was long gone. It was as if the sun were shining directly on them, warming his skin. His face felt flush, and his heart beat fast, in time with the pulse in his palm, with Jack. Even the air between them felt hot, like they were no longer in Horesh, but their own world.

“So I swear,” David said.

“So I swear,” Jack echoed.

As their words floated up into the treetops, melting into the air around them, David felt something heavy lift from his heart. He suddenly felt lighter, better, more hopeful.

David leaned forward, almost without thinking, and pressed his lips onto Jack’s, sealing their oath. Jack’s mouth was lush and wet, his lips moist and warm and soft. David wanted to lean in, to lose himself in the feeling, but instead he pulled back quickly.

He let the pressure in his hand go, let Jack’s hand go, but the prince held on a second longer, his eyes locked on David’s own.

“You’ll trust me, then, no matter what,” David said, less a question and more of a statement.

Jack nodded, “And you me, though I have certainly done you wrong in the past. From now on we work to the same goal. No more selfish actions. And so as much as I would like to stay here with you, we should part ways. We both have great things to accomplish.” He finally dropped his grip on David’s hand, which fell to his side, limp.

“I’ll go, then,” David said, taking a step back. It still felt as if there was a spell on them, not yet broken, their oath still thick in the air.

Jack’s lips rose into a slow smile, the corners of his mouth quirking up. “I would wish God be with you, but we both already know God is. So instead I say go with peace.”

“And you as well,” David agreed, smiling back. He took a step backward, then turned around, to walk away.

David made it only five steps before he paused, looking over his shoulder, to glance back at Jack. Jack was still in the clearing. He stood in the center, not moved from the location of their vow. But now, as the sun rose, he was bathed in a soft warm light.

A fluttering came from the trees, and a moth came down, white and pure and unblemished, its wings beating back the air. It landed on Jack’s still face, on his cheekbone, which was raised up to the sky.

Then suddenly there came a flock, a cloud, an eclipse of moths. All the same color as untouched snow. They flew to join the first, landing on Jack, and from where David was standing he could see them forming on Jack’s head a circlet. A crown the color of mourning, the color of absence, the color of death.

David knew in that moment that he would not again see his friend alive.

He wanted to run forward, to yell, and scatter away the dark omen. But there was no use. It was a sign, one that could not be taken back. Jack was touched by death. And so David forced himself to turn again, and to keep walking away.


End file.
